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Monday, March 10, 2014

Thoughts on Economic Freedom

I also agree with Friedman and Jordan in saying that there needs to be inequality in a society because a completely equal society does not progress. In addition, it has been proven that the poorest people in countries with a decent amount of inequality have more than the people in completely equal societies. Since Friedman says that the government is in place to control what the market cannot, it makes sense that governmental control is what drives societies in the wrong direction; the market alone can manage to take care of balanced inequalities. Also, I once read that people only feel poor depending on how poor they are compared to those around them, so is it important to consider how people feel to determine if equality is something to strive towards. Does it matter how poor people consider themselves to be or how poor they are? If it is more important how people feel, then governmental control is ideal.

2 comments:

I also agree with Friedman's view towards government and where they stand. It is the job of the government to maintain competition, counter monopolies, and basically keep the free market free. Don't touch something that isn't broken, as the saying goes. But I have to wonder, is it absolutely ineffective for the government to manipulate the free market? Are there no benefits at all?

Erica, I had a similar question when reading Friedman's views on government intervention. If Friedman believes that government should only work to keep the free market free then basically he believes that inequality is the only way to keep progress going which is a sad but honest truth. This whole concept was shocking to me because I had always seen government as the one entity that worked to promote equality and ensure the needs of every citizen was met. Now that I think about it, if people have nothing to gain from others with different economic backgrounds then there would be no need for economic interaction at all. Historically, economic competition began on the sole basis of inequality of resources with people trading with others to get the goods they lacked. I do think it is ineffective in general for the government to manipulate the free market because it remains balanced on its own and honestly if government isn't working to completely change the economic market to create more equality then I agree with you that it might as well stay out.